PUBLIC opinion, belief and supposition is greatly influenced in our times by the medium of the printed page and the television/computer screens.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A long-running TV series is based on the novels of Agatha Christie. Note: based on.
One such was titled 'Murder on the Orient Express'. The opening scene portrays our hero, Poirot, approaching (then) Istanbul station, intent on catching that train.
(Well, actually, there were a number of Orient Expresses, which traveled numerous routes to service numerous places.)
Poirot pauses briefly to watch a group of men roughing up a lady, then continues about his buiness.
This clearly typifies the well-known adage - 'fact', some say - that all men are bastards. We all know that, don't we?
Well, perhaps not, in Poirot's case, for the 'incident' is a product solely of the director's imagination, serving his or her ideological fantasies.
It does not occur in Christie's book. Still, it serves a purpose.
Dan McSweeney, Goulburn.